Mayor’s Commission on African & Caribbean Immigrant Affairs
Legal and Immigration Committee Report
Wednesday April 12, 2017
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We strive to be a city where neighbors know each other, care for one another and build our social fabric. Fixing our immigration system will strengthen our interactions with those we serve, and, ultimately, allow us to fulfill our mission to be a city of kindness. There’s also an economic benefit to immigration. Anaheim is a city of immigrants, many of them first-generation, many entrepreneurs. They’ve helped make our city a more vibrant and fun place to visit. Without immigrants, our constant efforts to renew Anaheim would be a lot harder.”
— Tom Tait, Republican Mayor of Anaheim, California, March 21
Costly Immigration Enforcement Measures Send Message of Fear
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today that he submitted a memorandum to all federal prosecutors to require the prioritization of immigration offenses in order to criminalize these violations and implement stricter enforcement practices.
In response to the memorandum, the following is a statement from Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum:
“Criminalizing immigration violations among individuals who are peaceably living in and contributing to our communities only will sow fear and chaos.
“Immigration enforcement should prioritize violent criminals and traffickers. Yet this new policy does just opposite by requiring federal prosecutors to prioritize immigration violations rather than violent criminals and threats to community safety.
“Already we are seeing the rate of crimes reported in cities across the U.S. fall because immigrants do not trust law enforcement. Today's announcement further undermines local law enforcement's mission to serve and protect the entirety of their communities."
“Even before this announcement, the majority of federal prosecutions concerned immigration violations, more than prosecutions for drugs, weapons and fraud combined. These measures depart from our values as a country and do not adequately address the situation at our borders.
“These enforcement practices send a terrible message to immigrants throughout our nation. Law enforcement resources must be used in ways that target actual threats. There are better ways to ensure our safety.”
State of Black Migrants under T-rump - Webinar
Presented by Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Overview-National Immigration Landscape
Executive Branch –Executive Orders 13, 769, 780
Legislative Branch
Department of Homeland Security
Affected Countries: Haiti, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan
Proposed Legislation
Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act of 2017 or the SAFE for America Act.
RAISE Act (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment) (They should just call it RACE act - and get it over with)
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Senator David Perdue (R-Georgia) unveiled a bill titled, "the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act," on February 7th. This bill seeks to limit legal immigration to "637,960 in its first year and to 539,958 by its tenth year-a 50 percent reduction from the 1,051,031 immigrants who arrived in 2015." According to Senator Cotton's official website, the Act aims to achieve the reduction of legal immigration by doing the following:
Retain immigration preferences for the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents while eliminating preferences for certain categories of extended and adult family members.
Eliminate the 50,000 visas arbitrarily allocated by lottery.
Limit refugee visas to 50,000 per year.
To truly help American workers to get employed and have better wages, Senator Cotton and Senator Perdue need to focus on issues such as education reform, which will help Americans equip themselves with knowledge and skills that employers desire. If the Senators want to eliminate something, let's eliminate ruinous and job-killing laws and regulations such as the minimum wage requirement and occupation licensing requirements.
Visa Overstay Enforcement Act of 2017- HR 643- Representative Lou Barletta
Approved Bills
Proposed Bills
S211- Reform Immigration- State Refugee Security Act- Senator Ted Cruz
S180- Senator Grassley
Changes criteria for certain H1B and L1 work visas who violate dates on visas:
Face fines up to 6 months
Subsequent offenses carry a penalty of up to 2 years in jail.
Working to mandate e-verify program, a computerized government record system that confirms employee’s authorization to work.
Moving Forward
Get involved with state and local organizing and policy efforts
Establish black immigrant defense and offense procedures
Mobilize the Global Black Diaspora
Establish Freedom Cities- cross racial vision and comprehensive framework for transformative social and human rights for all oppressed communities.
Website Resources/Tools:
www.panasd.org (Partnership for New Americans)
Agency Creates Avenue for American Workers to Report Abuse Mon, Apr 3, 2017
WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced multiple measures to further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse. The H-1B visa program should help U.S. companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country. Yet, too many American workers who are as qualified, willing, and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged. Protecting American workers by combating fraud in our employment-based immigration programs is a priority for USCIS.
Beginning today, USCIS will take a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the worksites of H-1B employees. USCIS will focus on:
Cases where USCIS cannot validate the employer’s basic business information through commercially available data;
H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute); and
Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization’s location.
Targeted site visits will allow USCIS to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B program may be more likely to occur, and determine whether H-1B dependent employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit U.S. workers. USCIS will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide. These site visits are not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system.
Employers who abuse the H-1B visa program negatively affect U.S. workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers. To further deter and detect abuse, USCIS has established an email address which will allow individuals (including both American workers and H-1B workers who suspect they or others may be the victim of H-1B fraud or abuse) to submit tips, alleged violations and other relevant information about potential H-1B fraud or abuse. Information submitted to the email address will be used for investigations and referrals to law enforcement agencies for potential prosecution.
BILLS INTRODUCED AND CONSIDERED
S. 845-The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act
This bill would codify and expand an existing policy already in place at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to require that ICE agents receive prior approval from a supervisor when there are exigent circumstances before engaging in enforcement actions at sensitive locations, such as schools, hospitals and health clinics, places of worship, organizations assisting crime victims, and other specified locations. The legislation also requires that ICE agents receive yearly training and report annually regarding enforcement actions in these locations.
Sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D – Connecticut- 10 cosponsors)
H.R. 1941- Bill to Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to Make the Exception for Returning Workers Permanent, and for Other Purposes.
Sponsored by Representative Clay Higgins (R - Louisiana) (0 cosponsors)
04/05/2017 Introduced in the House by Representative Higgins
04/05/2017 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
H.R. 2043 Fair Day in Court for Kids Act
The bill would require that the government appoint counsel for children and vulnerable individuals in immigration removal proceedings, and would require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) establish procedures to ensure that legal orientation programs are available to all detained immigrants.
Sponsored by Representative Zoe Lofgren (D - California) (22 cosponsors)
04/06/2017 Introduced in the House by Representative Lofgren
04/06/2017 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary
Respectfully Submitted By,
Dr. Vera Tolbert and Zemoria Brandon
Co- Chairs- Legal and Immigration Committee
Mayor’s Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs
It's important that we don't get fooled again - that we are as knowledgeable, if not moreso, about what's going on - and, based on that knowledge, we take action to protect ourselves and our people.
NOW THAT YOU KNOW,
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Stay Blessed &
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria
